I’m not on the bandwagon of blasting US Soccer, USSF, Sunil Gulati, the Coaching Staff, or the Players anymore – that’s old news for me; especially since the rest of our soccer media has finally caught up to what I was thinking after the US Men’s team performance in World Cup 2014.

Here’s my summary of issues back then that STILL REMAIN today:

They lack on field leadership.

They lack the ability to possess the ball with any sense of conviction.

They lack the ability to penetrate with any sense of continuity in possession leading to that penetration.

They are predictable.

They lack “controlled aggression”.

Their team passing statistics are horrible.

They lack a pure #9, #8, #7, and #6 in the traditional sense of soccer.

They lack ‘shut-down’ fullbacks.

They lack center-backs who can not only possess the ball, but control space in and around their own 18 yard box with pace and fortitude.

They have a great goalkeeper.

Some of the players are really-really fast, many are slow or really slow.

Some of the players have a great first touch, many don’t.

Both Head Coaches have shown an inability to use the right tactics against opponents.

So am I personally surprised by the result?

No… and I don’t know why other guys who’ve played at that level are!

Anyway, since I’ve already lambasted US Soccer and Sunil Gulati, many times over three years, my target for today is mainstream soccer media.

Yes… in the last two days mainstream media has blitzed Sunil Gulati and US Soccer/USSF given the horrendous result against T&T. In a way, rightly so, but in a way…. very disappointing.

It’s disappointing because there’s nothing here you shouldn’t already know if mainstream news/TV media had done their job of informing/educating our country in HOW soccer is played and what statistics should be used to quantify or qualify results.

Hmmm… you sure about this Chris?

Yes… here’s why.

Throughout the course of US World Cup qualifications mainstream media has quantified and qualified good or bad performances of players and coaching decisions based on the use of “event-based” statistics.

This information is well-intentioned but if you KNOW and understand HOW soccer is played NONE of these statistics have value UNLESS the author or TV pundit qualifies the data based upon how the opponent influenced those outcomes.

So… in EVERY instance (EVERY article and EVERY TV broadcast) mainstream media uses these event-based soccer statistics they facilitate ignorance of the mainstream soccer audience.

In other words, in modern terminology all that info they use is “fake news”…

But wait, there’s more… what is an article (in today’s environment) without including at least one tweet.

Last week the most popular @MLSSoccer.com writer, Matthew Doyle, tweeted about Paul Arriola, a good player who brings “energy” but world-class…. no. My response, however harsh, is included.

Finishing Touches:

Matthew Doyle, from MLS Soccer, offers this quote in a recent article.

“Second is that, at the end of the video from last night, you can see me pleading for you (yes you, the one reading this) to get involved, specifically as a coach or a referee.”

I am involved. I am a coach, I have coaching qualifications both here and from the United Kingdom.

I’m also a soccer analyst who’s been published in London and my statistical analysis has been presented at both the 2014 and 2017 World Conference on Science and Soccer.

So I have standing in what I offer as criticism to you and mainstream soccer media.

Finishing Touches:

I won’t prejudge MLS but I will offer some suggestions for MLSSoccer.com given my standing:

Stop the incessant use of individually tracked event-based statistics without qualifying what they mean relative to how the opponent played…

Stop advocating the Audi Player Index…

Stop advocating Expected Goals…

Stop advocating an MLS Best XI that excludes fullbacks or offers up a 3-4-3 when roughly 86% of teams in Major League Soccer play with four defenders, not three…

Stop advocating a Major League All Star starting squad that doesn’t account for ‘all’ the primary positions on the pitch, that means fullbacks, center-backs, wingers, central attacking and defending midfielders, forwards, and out-and-out strikers.

Stop advocating that a throw-back player of the 1990’s actually fits into a modernized 2022 US Men’s National Team.

Find writers/analyst who KNOW HOW soccer is played – not just guys who write articles that are offered simply as “click bait”!

Enforce that all academies (and all affiliated soccer clubs to those academies and the parent organization) are no longer “pay-to-play” this includes health insurance and travel.

Bottom line at the bottom:

Mainstream media organizations MUST take responsibility and retrain or sack writers/analysts and stop sponsor-ships with people/organizations that advocate/use “statistical disinformation” (fake news).

A reminder of where the US Men’s National Team finished in the Total Soccer Index for World Cup 2014 and why I’m not surprised they didn’t qualify for WC 2018.

By the way; just because I didn’t write an article about sacking Sunil Gulati, or other things like “pay to play” doesn’t mean I disagree with great articles like this one by Neil Blackmon.